Unpacking motivations for travel amid the turbulence of the initial COVID-19 pandemic shock

Magdalena Kubal-Czerwińska; Viachaslau Filimonau; Mirosław Mika; Aiman Shaken

doi:10.2478/mgrsd-2025-0039

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Unpacking motivations for travel amid the turbulence of the initial COVID-19 pandemic shock

Miscellanea Geographica

AHEAD OF PRINT

By: Magdalena Kubal-Czerwińska , Viachaslau Filimonau, Mirosław Mika and Aiman Shaken

Open Access

|Feb 2026

Figures & Tables

Tourism in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 – March 2021) Source: own research

Grouped respondents’ tourism activity in relation to the AVOID construct (summer season 2020) Items: a – tourist travel; b – use of tourist accommodation facilities (e.g. hotel, guesthouse, B&B); c – use of catering facilities (restaurant, bar, cafe, etc.); d – use of public transport (in general); e – train travel; f – air travel; g – visit to museums and/or art galleries; h – visiting places crowded with tourists. The scale of responses for the variables: ‘yes’ – 1, ‘no’ – 0 Source: own research

Attitudes towards tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic and future tourism intentions (pandemic time perspective: 2020/2021) * – p<0.001.; ** – p<0.01.; *** – p<0.05. Only statistically significant linear relationships are marked (p-value <0.05) Constructs: CONC – ‘Individual concern about the virus’; THREAT – ‘Perception of threat to health and life’; ANX – ‘Anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic’; AVOID – ‘Avoidance of participation in tourism during the pandemic’; SANIT – ‘Expectations towards sanitary safety in tourist destinations’ Source: own research

Perception of COVID-19 and tourism in the pandemic’s context

Category / Variable		N	I strongly disagree (%)	I disagree (%)	I agree (%)	I strongly agree (%)
Perception of the COVID-19 pandemic
CO1	I am concerned about the current COVID-19 pandemic	387	9	23	38	30
CO2	COVID-19 is just a new type of flu	388	23	35	26	16
CO3	We are too panicky about COVID-19	388	10	30	34	26
CO4	Information on COVID-19 does not always come from reliable sources	384	3	12	34	51
CO5	COVID-19 is a serious threat to human life	388	10	29	37	24
CO6	The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled in my country	388	20	43	30	7
CO7	I get nervous when I see people without a mask in public places	388	21	20	30	29
CO8	Right now, I fear the SARS-CoV-2 virus most of all	387	38	33	17	12
CO9	I feel anxious, thinking about the COVID-19 pandemic	388	19	29	39	13
CO10	My hands are sweaty when I think about COVID-19	385	72	22	4	2
CO11	I am afraid of losing my life as a result of infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus	384	36	35	22	7
CO12	I get seriously nervous when I listen to information about COVID-19 in the media (TV, internet)	385	28	35	26	11
CO13	I can’t sleep because I’m worried of getting sick from COVID-19	387	77	18	4	1
CO14	My heart starts to beat faster when I think I may get COVID-19	387	61	26	11	2
CO15	I feel anxious when there are people coughing around me	387	24	31	31	14
CO16	I definitely move away from people who sneeze	387	19	24	37	20
CO17	I have noticed that I wash my hands more often these days	388	10	15	37	38
CO18	The fear of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 makes it difficult for me to interact with people	385	31	33	24	12
CO19	I am constantly afraid that I can infect others	388	32	36	24	8
CO20	I am especially afraid that I can infect my loved ones	388	18	24	33	25
Perception of tourism in the COVID-19 pandemic
TUR1	Tourism contributes to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus	388	6	14	48	32
TUR2	Staying in a hotel carries the risk of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus	384	8	30	45	17
TUR3	I am afraid that tourists will transfer the virus to my area	386	15	37	33	15
TUR4	Tourist trips should be banned during COVID-19	387	28	38	24	10
TUR5	Currently, employee trips to countries with a high number of SARS-CoV-2 cases should be banned	387	17	31	35	17
TUR6	People who currently travel for tourist purposes behave irresponsibly	388	17	35	36	12
TUR7	Domestic travel is now as risky as international travel	388	16	28	43	13
TUR8	Due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, travel should definitely be avoided	385	18	36	35	11
TUR9	The introduction of additional sanitary safety measures in airplanes has made travel safe	386	11	35	44	10
TUR10	Sanitary safety is of supreme importance today in touristic places	387	7	17	41	35
TUR11	When choosing a place to stay (e.g., on vacation), it is essential to take into account safety of your own health	388	4	7	41	48
TUR12	In tourist places, I am ready to rebuke a person who, in my presence, does not comply with the rules of sanitary safety in connection with COVID-19	386	18	27	32	23
TUR13	Currently, individually organized trips are safer than trips organized by travel agencies	388	12	30	33	25

Discriminant validity of the measurement model (Heterotrait-monotrait criterion)

	CONC	THREAT	ANX	AVOID
CONC
THREAT	0.654
ANX	0.441	0.470
AVOID	0.598	0.647	0.471
SANIT	0.649	0.781	0.324	0.593

EFA – Public attitudes towards COVID-19

Factor/item	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3	Factor 4	Arithmetic mean	Standard deviation
Factor 1					2.39	0.69
CO19	0.706				2.08	0.93
CO20	0.693				2.66	1.05
CO17	0.685				3.02	0.97
CO15	0.558				2.34	0.99
CO18	0.550				2.17	0.99
CO12	0.542				2.21	0.97
CO11	0.536				2.00	0.93
CO16					2.59	1.01
Factor 2					2.51	0.73
CO3r		0.749			2.24	0.95
CO1		0.736			2.89	0.92
CO5		0.632			2.76	0.92
CO7		0.588			2.66	1.10
CO9		0.538			2.48	0.94
CO2r		0.532			2.35	1.00
CO8					2.02	1.01
Factor 3					1.39	0.56
CO13			0.806		1.28	0.58
CO14			0.757		1.53	0.76
CO10			0.746		1.37	0.68
Factor 4					2.79	0.52
CO6				0.839	2.25	0.85
CO4r				0.609	1.67	0.80

Survey sample

Socio-demographic characteristics
Category		%	Category		%
Gender	Female	54	Highest level of education	Primary education	4
Gender	Male	46		Vocational education	11
Age	18–25	19		Secondary education	46
	26–35	20		Higher education	37
	36–45	19		Other	2
	46–55	20		Other	2
	56–65	12	Occupation	Student	26
	66 +	10		Full-time employed / Owner of the company	52
Place of residence	Village	36		Full-time employed / Owner of the company	52
	City/town <10 thousand	9		Part-time employed	4
	City/town 10–100 thousand	15		Retired	14
	City >100 thousand	40		Unemployed	4
Frequency and type of tourist travels before the COVID-19 pandemic
Frequency		%	Type		%
Very rarely (less than once a year)		2	Business travel		9
Rarely (once, twice a year)		44	Business travel		9
Sometimes (several times a year, i.e., 3 times or more)		43	Typical tourist journeys (e.g., leisure, sightseeing)		91
Often (at least once a month)		11	Typical tourist journeys (e.g., leisure, sightseeing)		91

Results of the structural equation model and control relationships

Relationships	β	t-Value
CONC->AVOID	0.264	2.641**
CONC->SANIT	0.268	2.507***
THREAT->AVOID	0.403	3.929*
THREAT->SANIT	0.644	5.410*
ANX->AVOID	0.165	2.460***
ANX->SANIT	−0.103	1.431
Control relationships:
Gender->AVOID	0.047	0.975
Gender->SANIT	−0.048	0.863
Age->AVOID	0.116	2.081***
Age->SANIT	0.145	2.566**
Education->AVOID	0.034	0.698
Education->SANIT	−0.039	0.675
FTTBP->AVOID	−0.130	2.640**
FTTBP->SANIT	0.048	0.867
R²(AVOID)=49.2%; R²(SANIT)=62.6% Q²(AVOID)=0.258; Q²(SANIT)=0.257 Model fit: SRMS =0.039; NFI = 0.930; Chi² = 141.91

Measurement model

Construct indicator	Standardised loading*	Cronbach’s alfa	rho A	Composite reliability (CR)	Average variance extracted (AVE)
CONC		0.764	0.789	0.776	0.540
CO17	0.608
CO19	0.800
CO20	0.781
THREAT		0.689	0.707	0.696	0.536
CO1	0.657
CO5	0.800
ANX		0.770	0.804	0.776	0.543
CO10	0.628
CO13	0.661
CO14	0.893
AVOID		0.837	0.840	0.837	0.632
TUR4	0.768
TUR6	0.758
TUR8	0.855
SANIT		0.683	0.700	0.690	0.528
TUR10	0.656
TUR11	0.792

EFA – Public attitudes towards tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Factor/item	Factor 1	Factor 2	Arithmetic mean	Standard deviation
Factor 1			2.54	0.65
TUR4	0.813		2.16	0.94
TUR6	0.812		2.42	0.91
TUR8	0.795		2.37	0.90
TUR1	0.662		3.07	0.83
TUR2	0.662		2.71	0.83
TUR5	0.586		2.54	0.96
TUR7			2.53	0.92
Factor 2			3.04	0.66
TUR11		0.750	3.34	0.77
TUR10		0.700	3.05	0.89
TUR13		0.699	2.72	0.98

References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2025-0039 | Journal eISSN: 2084-6118 | Journal ISSN: 0867-6046

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Language: English

Submitted on: Jan 21, 2025

Accepted on: Jul 23, 2025

Published on: Feb 8, 2026

Published by: Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

Global health crisis,

destination management

Related subjects:

Geosciences,

Geography,

Geosciences, other

© 2026 Magdalena Kubal-Czerwińska, Viachaslau Filimonau, Mirosław Mika, Aiman Shaken, published by Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT

Unpacking motivations for travel amid the turbulence of the initial COVID-19 pandemic shock

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Perception of COVID-19 and tourism in the pandemic’s context

Discriminant validity of the measurement model (Heterotrait-monotrait criterion)

EFA – Public attitudes towards COVID-19

Survey sample

Results of the structural equation model and control relationships

Measurement model

EFA – Public attitudes towards tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Paradigm

My account